How Big is Apple’s App Army?

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store has crossed 40 billion downloads and almost half of those came last year, the company announced on Monday. The numbers for December were also impressive, as the month saw a record two billion downloads. The company’s App Store is known to have a big edge on the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play store when it comes to monetization, and it appears the ecosystem is gaining strength.

“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” Apple’s Eddy Cue said in a statement. “Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”

In addition, the company said it now had 775,000 applications for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Of those, more than 300,000 are native to the iPad. In June, Apple announced it had seen 30 billion downloads from 400 million active accounts and 650,000 available apps. The numbers grew to 35 billion application downloads and 700,000 apps in October, and the latest figures only highlight the pace of growth.

The App Store is now available in 155 countries and the programs are divided into 23 different categories.

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Apple also specifically mentioned some extra-successful apps, including Temple Run, which has been downloaded 75 million times, and the DragonVale and Clash of Clans apps from Supercell, which have earned more than $100 million until now. The company also mentioned travel app Uber, personalized social news reader Flipboard, hotel deals program Hotel Tonight, and Airbnb, which connects temporary renters with those looking for accommodation.